The day coincides with the resumption of classes for
non-examination pupils after examination classes started their lessons on
Monday this week.
State university employees also gave a 14-day notice to the
Public Service ministry announcing their intention to embark on a strike in
protest over low wages.
Their notice came at a time government has approved a 200%
hike in university fees, which will result in students at State universities
forking out between $25 000 and $40 000 per semester, up from $9 000.
“This is a 14-day notice of intention to embark on a strike
by the Zimbabwe Universities and Allied Workers Union (ZUAWU) and the Zimbabwe
State Universities Union of Academics (ZISUUA), hereby referred to as the
Zimbabwe State Universities Joint Council, on behalf of all State universities’
workers.
“The employees demand that the employer makes urgent steps
to attain the regional level salary scales as per the agreements of 2010,” read
the letter by Alois Muzvuwe and Readyforward Dube, the ZISUUA and ZUAWU
representatives.
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz)
released a statement yesterday inviting citizens to join them on the streets on
March 22 in nationwide protests dubbed #SaveOurEducationZw.
The rural teachers threatened that the protests would
continue until their grievances were addressed.
“In September 2020, we produced a detailed Education in
Crisis Report citing both urgent issues that need to be attended to and
long-term structural deficiencies which have to be resolved. We further made
recommendations to the government, some of which do not need any financial
investment. The report was ignored by the government, but schools opening was
aborted because of the challenges we had raised,” the Artuz statement read.
They accused government of ignoring the recommendations by
the Federation of Zimbabwe Educators Unions (Fozeu), which includes teachers’
unions, and a position paper by Artuz on safe and effective reopening of
schools.
Artuz, in its notice for nationwide protests, cited the
poor 2020 Grade 7 pass rate, which dropped by 9% compared to the 2019 results,
saying if government fails to resuscitate the ailing education sector, pass
rates would continue on a downward spiral.
“The number of teenage pregnancies is rising, with a recent
report revealing that 5 000 teenagers were impregnated in a month. This
revelation reminds us that the longer learners stay at home, the more difficult
it is for them to return to schools. It is, therefore, imperative for us to force
the government to urgently resolve the education crisis.
“Government should deal with the issue of teacher
preparedness to teach. Teachers are currently incapacitated because of
underpayment. The unilateral variation of teacher contracts by the government
in 2018 led to a systematic wage theft, which left teachers wallowing in
poverty,” read the Artuz notice.
The rural teachers also said government needed to increase
the Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam) fees support as more vulnerable
learners were traumatised, adding that a counselling regime had to be
operationalised in schools to deal with the trauma of the lockdowns.
Moses Mhike, a team leader representing government in the
National Joint Negotiating Commission (NJNC), said the Public Service
Commission (PSC) had not yet received communication from teachers’ unions on
the proposed nationwide protests.
“We have not received anything from them, we are just
getting to know of it from the Press,” Mhike said.
Primary and Secondary Education ministry spokesperson
Taungana Ndoro said: “Yes, I saw something from the 386-member union called
Artuz. The ministry continues to urge all well-meaning teachers to report for
duty on time and with commitment as government seeks to address their
grievances.”
Last week, government reached a deadlock with civil
servants after the workers rejected a “paltry” 25% salary increment during an
NJNC meeting.
Meanwhile, disgruntled teachers in Bulawayo have formed
another teachers’ union called Educators Union of Zimbabwe (EUZ) after accusing
other unions of deviating from their mandate.
EUZ interim secretary-general Justin Murema told NewsDay
that some teachers’ unions had become an extension of the employer, while
others were meddling in opposition party politics, hence the need for an
apolitical teachers’ representative body.
Murema said like other unions, his membership wanted the
restoration of their salaries to 2018 levels which were in United States
dollars and starting from US$520 to US$550.
“We are here to offer the missing services from those
offered by other unions by bringing all teachers’ issues under one umbrella for
a fruitful discussion with the employer.
Around 70 000 out of 130 000 teachers in the country are not in any
union membership and EUZ seeks to recruit more of these unrepresented
teachers,” Murema said. Newsday
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